If there is one man more qualified than most to talk about the Challenge Tour it is England’s Lee Slattery, the focus of the sixth instalment of our series looking back at notable Challenge Tour graduates in the lead-up to this week’s season finale – the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final.
In the first half of 2004, Slattery had dominated the satellite PGA Europro Tour, before later making the step up to the Challenge Tour in successful fashion with victory at the Telia Grand Prix, going on to finish as the Number One graduate for that year.
Since then, however, the man from the golfing haven of Southport has fluctuated between the top two tiers of European golf, a fact Slattery reflected on when contesting in the Challenge Tour ranks again last year.
“It’s been up and down,” he said at the time. “It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride, but I take positives from it, I’ve been out there for a few years, I’ve lost my card once or twice but managed to get it back straight away.”
And speaking from experience, Slattery had words of warning that the current crop of Challenge Tour contenders could well heed.
He said: “There are no mugs out there, it doesn’t matter who you get drawn with. You are at an equal standing and to get out of that you’ve just got to work a lot harder than [other players] and you’ve got to be more motivated and just want it a little bit more. It’s such a fine line when you get out onto the main Tour.”
After losing his European Tour playing privileges in 2009, Slattery was victorious at the Telenet Trophy, a win that would help him to a 13th place finish in the season standings and herald a return to the big time.
And Slattery has refused to look back since, storming to his first European Tour title in early October at the Bankia Madrid Masters, and he clearly felt last year that the talent now on show on the Challenge Tour forced him to up his game.
“I think the standard has certainly improved, I can name a lot of golfers that I’ve played with this year that I have been very impressed with. It is harder but at the same time you’ve got to improve with them,” he said.
And improve he has, for after his victory in Spain, Slattery still retains a chance of making the season-ending Dubai World Championship, with a trip to the lucrative WGC-HSBC Champions to come this week in Shanghai.
Needless to say, all 20 players lucky enough to graduate to The European Tour this year will be hoping to have as equally successful an ascent as “Slatts”.
To see the full feature, click here.
